In the mining industry, low boy trailers are often used to move heavy equipment such as shovels and the like from one location to another. Typically, this equipment is in the weight range of up to 800 tons. However, certain shovels weigh in excess of 1000 tons and these trailers are incapable of moving such equipment. Thus, the mine is limited to moving this type of heavy equipment on its own, which takes an inordinate amount of time and hampers mining productivity.
Low boy trailers to haul high tonnage equipment have been proposed to the mining industry in the past. These trailers have been proposed with the capability of hauling up to 1500 tons, e.g., a mining shovel. However, these trailers have not been accepted by the mines for a number of reasons. A low boy trailer designed to haul equipment in the 1500 ton range is about 38 feet wide, which is much greater in width than the 24 foot wide hauling vehicles. The overall length of approximately 171 feet for such a trailer is also impractical.
In addition, the cost of the equipment cannot be justified for the few utilizations of the trailer over time. Such a trailer runs millions of dollars and mine operations cannot justify the high cost of such a trailer for its limited use.
In addition, these 1500 ton capacity trailers require a primary mover and a jeep. However, a primary mover and jeep combination is not practical for use as a tow truck. It is also too long and cumbersome for everyday use to utilize with lower tonnage trailers.
Thus, a need still exists to create a means to move this high tonnage equipment in an economical way so that the cost of acquiring this capability will be acceptable to mine operators. The present invention solves this need by the creation of a trailer combination that combines a low boy trailer designed to haul the majority of the heavy equipment used at a mine but is specially modified with a trailer auxiliary that, when coupled with the modified low boy trailer and modified hauling vehicles, permits heavy equipment, e.g., a 1500 ton mining shovel (incapable of being towed with present day low boy trailers) to be moved.